Welcome to Sprinting for Kimchi

So I've been excepted and received my contract to teach in Gangwon-do South Korea. I'm embarking on a 6 month contract teaching English through the TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea) program. This blog will be my portal in keeping in touch with family and friends while also giving others interested in Korea and the TaLK program an idea of what this country is like.

What is this TaLK program?

The TaLK program has been recently created in August 2008 by South Korea's president Lee Myung-Bak to help level the education playing field in Korea. Let me explain, South Korea is obsessed with education to the point where children spend 12+ hours a day in public schools and private academies. The problem is that families in the cities are much wealthier and have more opportunities + more foreigners = better English education than the rural folks do. This is a stark contrast to the States, I know because I'm from a rural area (3,000 people) and have met so many kids in Boston that were from big cities and had numerous educational opportunities.
Anyway, the TaLK program was created to get some native English teachers out in the rural areas and give these kids some opportunities. The native English teachers are mainly college students from any native English speaking country so we are considered TaLK scholars.

How did the Korean Government Buy Me?

The government provides flight to and from Korea, housing, food and activities during the 3 week orientation at a Korean University (currently I have no clue where). From there we have a one week orientation in our province and then we start teaching. We get paid 1,500,000 Won per month ($1235) with housing, health benefits and some activities provided. Pretty nice for only 15 hours of work a week!

What I'll be writing about?

FOOD (음식)! I love Korean food so expect loads of Korean food pictures.
RUNNING (뛰다)! I learn my surroundings by running long distances.
KOREAN LANGUAGE (한국말)! Believe me it's easy.
CULTURE (문화)! I know a lot of Korean culture from friends and the internet but haven't experienced it all first hand.
TALK PROGRAM! What it will be like to be in the program and the process it took to get accepted.

Where is Gangwon-do?

First you must understand Korea is broken up into provinces called do, sorta like a state in the US. The only difference is the huge cities are really their on provinces, such as Seoul, Busan, Daegu, etc,. Gagwon is a province in the northeastern most part of Korea. To the north is the dreaded North Korea, to the east is the Sea of Japan or East Sea (depending on if you ask a Korean or a Japanese person), to the west is Gyeonggi-do and Seoul, and the south has Gyeungbuk and Chungbuk.

The internet tells me that Gangwon's scenery is very famous for the mountains and other natural wonders. I'm looking forward to running this wonderful area!